Pangos: Canada's Next One

Dave Telep

09/15/2010

What do Myck Kabongo, Cory Joseph, Tristan Thompson and Kevin Pangos all have in common? Together they are Canada's finest but only Pangos elected to stay in his country for high school. So far, it's worked out well for the 2011 point guard.

You know the story, Canadian basketball star gets a taste of prep school in America and the next thing you know, he's in the States making a name for himself.

Well, Kevin Pangos has a different story. The 6-foot-1 standout from Newmarket's John Denison Secondary School is paving his own road to college and it's the one less traveled by his countrymen. Pangos, a member of the Class of 2011, isn't coming to America for high school but he will for college.

Who is this kid? For starters, he helped lead Canada's U17 team to the bronze medal last summer at the world championships in Hamburg, Germany. "He's Canada's next star with the national program," one college coach told Scout.com.

Last spring, Pangos played in the Jordan Brand game with the international squad. He was invited to the NBA Camp but elected to stay with Canada's team last summer. While there was talk of what grade he'd be in, Pangos' father Bill told Scout.com in an email that he's definitely a senior.

"He's got the highest IQ of running a team and understanding basketball," a coach said. "The other thing he can do, he can really shoot the ball. Every time it comes out of his hands you think it's going in. People are going to ding him on his athleticism.

"When I saw him, I think he'd be fine because he works his tail off and he's plenty athletic enough offensively. The one ding is defensively on the ball but he'll be fine there."

Pangos recently took the standardized test so he's eligible to take official visits. Unofficially he's been to Gonzaga and was offered scholarships by Michigan, Boston College, Portland, UNLV, Cincinnati and Temple. The Wolverines took themselves out of the mix when the landed Trey Burke. BC, Cincinnati, Portland and UNLV are no longer under consideration.

Gonzaga, according to dad, is still under very serious consideration. The Zags, Virginia and Notre Dame either have or will be in tow see him this fall. Pangos said Virginia, Temple and possibly Notre Dame could receive official visits.